Pre-summit Briefing 2017/7

17 November: Education and Culture

Donald Tusk will preside over a special meeting of the European Council in Göteborg on 17 November. Angela Merkel will not be there and president Anastasiades of Cyprus and Juha Sipilä, the Finish prime minister may not be either. Everybody else, including Theresa May, should be present however because they had been planning to come to Göteborg anyway for a Social Summit organised jointly by the Swedish government and the European Commission. The two events are quite distinct, but when a number of heads of state and government pressed during the working dinner at Tallinn at the end of September for more frequent European Council meetings, an extra event in Göteborg on the same day as the Social Summit provided a quick and easy solution.